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What's the Matter With Nuclear Materials
Today, about 20 percent of the electricity consumed in the United States is generated by approximately 100 nuclear fission power plants. Nearly half of these commercial reactors first went online in the 1970s. After 30 years of extreme temperatures and constant radiation, how safe are they? That's one of the questions that Brian Wirth, a UC Berkeley professor of nuclear engineering, hopes to answer through materials science.
Driving Transportation Research
Imagine that every time you drove into the heart of your city's downtown you had to pay a small fee. How would traffic be affected if that fee shifted predictably by time-of-day depending on the congestion in the city center? This is one of the ideas that UC Berkeley researchers hope to test drive in a new international center dedicated to the future of urban transportation policy and technology. The Volvo Research and Educational Foundations recently awarded $2.4 million over five years to the UC Berkeley Institute of Transportation to establish this Centre of Excellence.
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A Catalyst for Nano-Energy Innovation
A new UC Berkeley research center will enable faculty and students to further focus their energy on nanotechnology, and vice versa. In June, Taiwan's largest research organization, the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), and the University launched the Berkeley-ITRI Research Center to spur development of powerful energy technologies based on Berkeley's nanoscale innovations--from flexible solar cells fabricated onto plastic to a "bio battery" powered by the glucose in your body.
The Soda Hall Walkthrough
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2004 UC Regents. Updated 7/27/04.
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